Word of Mouth Fair Play Policy

Introduction

The purpose of the Fair Play Policy is to ensure that Word of Mouth reviews are legitimate and accurately describe people’s experiences and opinions. Hence the integrity of our reviews is our number one priority. Please read them carefully.

The contents of this page are subject to change without notice.

Review Guidelines - The basics

DO

  • Be clear, objective and detailed in expressing your honest opinion
  • Check your review for spelling and grammar - make sure it communicates clearly
  • Leave a review if you are a paying customer
  • Disclose any personal connection or special treatment

DON'T

  • Use offensive, discriminatory or abusive language
  • Exaggerate the facts, use generalisations or leave inflammatory remarks
  • Single out individuals (remember you’re reviewing the business)
  • Advertise, spam, or mention other business names in your review

Index

  1. Only write about your personal, first-hand experience
  2. Don't exaggerate the facts
  3. Avoid negative personal comments
  4. Only review businesses if you are a paying customer
  5. Don't offend
  6. You must disclose any personal connections
  7. Disclose any special treatment
  8. Keep it relevant and recent
  9. One review, one business
  10. Ensure your review is unique
  11. Posting sprees & spamming
  12. Fake Reviews
  13. Report any suspect reviews
  14. Reviews for Health Practitioners

Only write about your personal, first-hand experience

Describe your experience in as much detail as possible, mentioning any unique qualities, and include any helpful suggestions you have for other Word of Mouth users or the types of people that might like or dislike the service.

Don't exaggerate the facts

Be objective and tell us about your actual experience, avoiding inflammatory descriptors and generalisations. This way you'll come across as a credible reviewer and Word of Mouth users can draw their own conclusions based on the facts you include.

Avoid negative personal comments

We don't discourage negative comments or low ratings (provided they are legitimate), but these should be directed at the business, not a particular employee. If you experience bad service, describe what happened but please don't name the individual. On the other hand, if you had a good experience, you should feel free to mention the name of the person that looked after you.

Only review businesses if you are a paying customer

You can't review a business unless you actually went ahead and transacted with them.

Reviews which are not accepted:

  • Free gifts
  • Price-shopping

Exceptions include:

  • Free promotional services designed to acquire regular business as it this can be considered trade in commerce
  • Site-inspections or quotations

Don't offend

The use of language or content that is offensive, vilifying or discriminatory, such as racist or prejudice comments, is not permitted. Such comments will be removed immediately.

You must disclose any personal connections

If you are in some way connected to a business, you can still submit a review (provided you are also a paying customer), as long as you are explicit and open about your relationship in your review. Other Word of Mouth users should know when a reviewer's perspective may be influenced by personal connections.

Disclose any special treatment

If a business you review has given you something for free, a discount, or any special treatment (including if they are intending to give this to you later), you should always disclose this in your review.

Keep it relevant and recent

Only review businesses that you have used within the last 12 months. Your memory might not be as clear as you think it is.

One review, one business

Don't mention any alternative businesses by name (although you can always review them separately if you've been a customer).

Ensure your review is unique

Content on Word of Mouth must not appear on other websites.

Posting sprees & spamming

Do not spam Word of Mouth with reviews or comments that are not helpful or are advertisements as they will be removed and your account deactivated.

Fake Reviews

Fake reviews whether positive or negative will not be tolerated on Word of Mouth and we reserve the right to take action against the offending party through:

  • Removal of access to account
  • Retracting the offending content
  • Locking the listing to any future submissions
  • Taking further action through the ACCC
This includes but is not limited to submitting fake negative reviews to competitors, or submitting fake positive reviews for your own business.

Report any suspect reviews

If you read a review that seems suspicious, incorrect, offensive or in some way inappropriate, please click the link that says "Flag as Suspect or Inappropriate". This will prompt our team to investigate and either verify the review, have the member edit the review, or remove the review if necessary.

Note that reasons such as: "This is fake" or "We don’t know who they are," are not legitimate reasons to flag a review and will be rejected.

Word of Mouth will not investigate reviews that are more than 12 months old unless they are in serious breach of our conditions of use.

Reviews for health practitioners (doctors, physiotherapists, dentists, vets etc.)

Word of Mouth will not publish content that speaks to the clinical competency or experience of health practitioners, such concerns should be addressed with their respective governing body, such as the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). Instead, feel free to share your experience about the service received.

Examples of reviews which will be rejected:

  • “I needed to get a blood-test done and the nurse didn’t know how to properly put in the needle. She jabbed my arm multiple times before she found the vein”
  • “The cosmetic dentist had no idea what he was doing and now my teeth look uglier than ever!”


Examples of reviews which will be accepted:

  • “The staff at this clinic were extremely responsive and polite, they were able to fully address any of my questions and concerns. They made me feel at ease, although wait times can be a little long, their quality of service is fantastic”
  • “The wait times at this clinic are extremely long and the staff don’t seem like they care. Often when I asked a question they would brush it off or completely ignore me! When I brought this up with management, they told me to go somewhere else”


Please also read our Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy

Last updated: 08/03/2016

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